1 This file describes recent user-visible changes in groff. Bug fixes are not
2 described. There are more details in the man and info pages.
10 o Analogously to the .ft and \f pair, two new requests `gcolor' and
11 `fcolor' (which pair with \m and \M, respectively) have been added to
12 set the glyph and background colours.
14 o A new read-only, string-valued register `.sty' returns the name of the
17 o Two new conditional operators `F <name>' and `S <name>' have been added.
18 `F' is true if a font <name> exists. `S' is true if a style <name> has
21 o Cyrillic characters have been added to the `utf8' and `html' output
27 o The `by' argument in a `for' loop can now be negative if it is additive.
28 For the multiplicative case, it must be greater than zero.
33 o The following keywords aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
35 undef NAME (to undefine a macro)
36 copy "FILE" (a synonym for `include')
37 space n (to modify the vertical spacing before and after
40 o The following macros aren't new but haven't been documented previously:
42 Alpha, ..., Omega (the same as `ALPHA', ..., `OMEGA')
43 ldots (three dots on the base line)
44 dollar (a dollar glyph)
46 o The following keywords have been extended. Again, this isn't new but
47 hasn't been documented previously:
56 cpile n { ... } (set vertical spacing between rows to N)
61 o This device driver has been raised to beta stage; its set of tags should
64 o New command line option `-s' to set the base point size.
66 o New command line option `-S' to set the split level while generating
72 o Experimental support for zero-width and double-width characters.
77 o On platforms which have the X Window System this program is now built and
78 installed automatically.
83 o This program to create font definition files for xditview isn't new but
84 hasn't been installed previously.
89 o A security problem (reported as CAN-2004-0969) has been fixed.
94 o A new script contributed by Mike Bianchi. It compares two groff, nroff,
95 or troff documents and creates an output with added margin characters
96 (using `.mc') to indicate the differences.
101 o A new wrapper script contributed by Keith Marshall to easily create PDF
102 documents with groff.
109 . Support for fractional point sizes: A value for the `PS', `VS', `FPS',
110 and `VPS' register larger than or equal to 1000 is always divided by
111 1000. For example, `.nr PS 10250' sets the document's font size to
114 . The `Ds' and `De' macros provided in ms since groff version 1.19 have
115 been removed; the equivalent `DS' and `DE' macros should be used
116 instead. X11 documents which actually use `Ds' and `De' always load a
117 specific macro file from the X11 distribution (`macros.t') which
118 provides proper definitions for the two macros.
120 . The following registers have been added for improving layout control:
123 Defines number of lines following `LP', `PP', `QP', `IP' or `XP' which
124 must be kept together, before any automatic page break.
127 Sets number of lines of following paragraph which must be kept with a
128 heading, defined by `NH' or `SH', before any automatic page break.
131 Sets the first level of heading (set with `NH') which will keep the
132 same point size as body text.
135 Sets the point size increment for each level of heading (set with
136 `NH'), below the threshold level set by `GROWPS'; e.g., if
137 \n[PS] = 10, \n[GROWPS] = 3 and \n[PSINCR] = 2.0p, then `.NH 1' will
138 produce 14pt headings, `.NH 2' will produce 12pt, and all other levels
139 will remain at 10pt (because \n[PS] = 10).
141 . The `SH' macro now accepts a numeric argument, to make heading size
142 match that of `NH' with same argument value when the `GROWPS'/`PSINCR'
145 Please refer to the documentation of the ms package for other, minor
150 The section type set with the `++' request is available in the `_M'
151 register. This isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
155 The `HR' macro no longer causes an empty line for non-HTML devices.
157 A new macro `HEAD' has been added to directly add data to the
158 <head>...</head> block.
160 New macros `OLS' and `OLE' to start and end an ordered list.
162 New macros `DLS' and `DLE' to start and end a definition list.
167 o A new macro package contributed by Keith Marshall which implements PDF
168 marks. This is in alpha stage currently.
173 o Two new keywords to the DESC file have been added which are needed for
174 grohtml: `image_generator' and `unscaled_charwidths'. The former gives
175 the name of the program which creates PNG images, and the latter makes
176 troff always use unscaled character widths.
185 o The argument of the command line option `-I' is now also passed to troff
186 and grops, specifying a directory to search for files on the command line,
187 files named in `so' and `psbb' requests, and files named in \X'ps: file'
188 and \X'ps: import' escapes.
190 o If option `-V' is used more than once, the commands will be both printed
191 on standard error and run.
196 o Two new read-only, string-valued registers `.m' and `.M' return the
197 name of the current drawing and background color, respectively.
199 o New read-only register `.U' which is set to 1 if in safer mode and set
200 to 0 if in unsafe mode.
202 o An input encoding file for latin-5 (a.k.a. ISO 8859-9) has been added.
205 groff -Tdvi -mlatin5 my_file > my_file.dvi
207 Note that some output devices don't support all glyphs of this encoding.
209 o If the `return' request is called with an argument, it exits twice,
210 namely the current macro and the macro one level higher. This is
211 used to define a wrapper macro for `return' in trace.tmac.
213 o For completeness, two new requests have been added: `dei1' and `ami1'.
214 They are equivalent to `dei' and `ami', respectively, but the macros
215 are executed with compatibility mode off (similar to `de1' and `am1').
217 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory for files (both
218 those on the command line and those named in `psbb' requests). This is
219 also handled by the groff wrapper program.
221 o Since version 1.19 you can say `.vs 0'. Older versions emit a warning
222 and convert this to `.vs \n[.V]'.
224 This hasn't been documented properly. Note that `.vs 0' isn't saved in a
225 diversion since it doesn't result in vertical motion.
230 o Dashed and dotted ellipses have been implemented.
235 o New key character `x' to make tbl call a user-defined macro on a table
236 cell. Patch by Heinz-Jürgen Oertel <hj.oertel@surfeu.de>.
241 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
242 converts a grap diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the
243 PNM library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
244 [Note that the grap program itself isn't part of the groff package;
245 see the file MORE.STUFF how to obtain grap.]
250 o New option `-j' to emit output splitted into multiple files.
255 o New command line option `-I' to specify a directory to search for files
256 on the command line and files named in \X'ps: import' and \X'ps: file'
257 escapes. This is also handled by the groff wrapper program.
259 o The default value for the `broken' keyword in the DESC file is now 0.
264 o A new man page `lj4_font(5)' documents how fonts are accessed with
267 o The built-in fonts for LJ4 and newer PCL 5 devices have been completely
268 revised, mainly to access as much glyphs as possible. The provided
269 metric files should be compatible with recent PCL 5 printers also.
270 Additionally, font description files have been added for the Arial and
271 Times New Roman family, the MS symbol, and Wingdings fonts.
276 o New option `-x' to prevent use of built-in Adobe Glyph List.
281 o Completely revised to handle HP TrueType metric files also. See the
282 hpftodit manual page for more details.
287 o This version is a rewrite of groffer in many parts, but it is kept in
288 the old single script style.
290 New options: --text, --mode text, --tty-viewer, --X, --mode X,
291 --X-viewer, --html, --mode html, --html-view, --apropos-data,
292 --apropos-devel, --apropos-progs.
294 New documentation file: README_SH.
296 Enhancement of the configuration files and the `apropos' handling.
301 o www.tmac: New macro `JOBNAME' to split output into multiple files.
303 o In mdoc, multiple calls to `.Lb' are now supported in the LIBRARY
313 o Input encoding files for latin-9 (a.k.a. latin-0 and ISO 8859-15) and
314 latin-2 (ISO 8859-2) have been added. Example use:
316 groff -Tdvi -mlatin9 my_file > my_file.dvi
318 You still need proper fonts with the necessary glyphs. Out of the box,
319 the groff package supports latin-9 only for -Tps, -Tdvi, and -Tutf8,
320 and latin-2 only for -Tdvi and -Tutf8.
322 o Composite glyphs are now supported. To do this, a subset of the Adobe
323 Glyph List (AGL) Algorithm as described in
325 http://partners.adobe.com/asn/tech/type/unicodegn.jsp
327 is used to construct glyph names based on Unicode character codes. The
328 existing groff glyph names are frozen; no glyph names which can't be
329 constructed algorithmically will be added in the future.
331 The \[...] escape sequence has been extended to specify multiple glyph
336 this accesses a glyph with the name `u0041_0328'.
338 Some groff glyphs which are useful as composites map to `wrong' Unicode
339 code points. For example, `ho' maps to U+02DB which is a spacing
340 ogonek, whereas a non-spacing ogonek U+0328 is needed for composite
341 glyphs. The new request
345 will change the mapping while a composite glyph name is constructed.
346 To make \[A ho] yield the expected result,
350 is needed. [The new file `composite.tmac' loaded at start-up already
351 contains proper calls to `.composite'.]
353 Please refer to the info pages of groff and to the groff_char man page
356 o A new request `fschar' has been added to define font-specific fallback
357 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
358 `fspecial' request but before the list of fonts declared with `special'.
360 o Fallback characters defined with `fschar' can be removed with the
361 new `rfschar' request.
363 o A new request `schar' has been added to define global fallback
364 characters. They are searched after the list of fonts declared with the
365 `special' request but before the already mounted special fonts.
367 o In groff versions 1.18 and 1.18.1, \D'f ...' didn't move the current
368 point horizontally. Despite of being silly, this change has been
369 reverted for backwards compatibility. Consequently, the intermediate
370 output command `Df' also moves the position horizontally again.
372 \D'f ...' is deprecated since it depends on the horizontal resolution of
373 the output device (given with the `hor' parameter in the DESC file).
374 Use the new \D'Fg ...' escape instead.
376 o For orthogonality, new \D subcommands to change the fill color are
383 \D'Fd' (default color)
385 The arguments are the same as with the `defcolor' request. The current
386 position is *not* changed.
388 o The values set with \H and \S are now available in number registers
389 \n[.height] and \n[.slant], respectively.
391 o The `.pe' number register isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
392 It is set to 1 during a page ejection caused by the `bp' request.
394 o The new glyph symbol `tno' is a textual variant of `no'.
396 o The new glyph symbol `+e' represents U+03F5, GREEK LUNATE EPSILON SYMBOL.
397 (Well, it is not really new since it has been previously supported by
398 grolj4.) The mapping for both the dvi and lj4 symbol font has been
399 changed accordingly so that Greek small letter epsilon, `*e', has the
400 same glyph shape as with other devices.
405 o The font `freeeuro.pfa' has been added to provide various default glyph
406 shapes for `eu' and `Eu'.
408 o It is now possible to access all glyphs in a Type 1 font, not only 256
409 (provided the font file created by afmtodit has proper entries). grops
410 constructs additional encoding vectors on the fly if necessary.
412 o The paper size is now emitted via the %%DocumentMedia and PageSize
413 mechanisms so that it is no longer required to tell `gv' or `ps2pdf'
414 about the paper size. The `broken' flag value 16 omits this feature
415 (the used PostScript command `setpagedevice' is a LanguageLevel 2
416 extension) -- if you intend to further process grops output to get an
417 encapsulated PS (EPS) file you must also use this option.
419 Patch by Egil Kvaleberg <egil@kvaleberg.no>.
421 o Non-slanted PostScript metrics have been changed again; they no longer
422 contain negative left italic correction values. This assures correct
428 o The font cmtex10 has been added as the special font `SC' to the DVI fonts.
429 It is used as a font-specific special font for CW and CWI.
431 o New options -l and -p to set landscape orientation and the paper size.
432 grodvi now emits a `papersize' special which is understood by DVI drivers
435 Consequently, the DESC file should contain a `papersize' keyword.
437 o The glyph shapes for \[*f] and \[*e] have been exchanged with \[+f] and
438 \[+e], respectively, to be in sync with all other devices.
440 o Glyphs \[HE] and \[DI] have been replaced with \[u2662] and \[u2661],
441 respectively, since the former two glyphs have a black (filled) shape
442 which grodvi doesn't provide by default (it never has actually).
447 o The glyphs \[*e] and \[+e] have been exchanged to be in sync with
450 o The glyph \[~=] is now called \[|=]. Similar to other devices, \[~=]
451 is now another name for glyph \[~~].
456 o New option `-r'. It is similar to the -i option except it tells grotty to
457 use the `reverse video' attribute to render italic fonts.
462 o New command `figname' to set the name of a picture's output box in TeX
468 o The environment variable `REFER' to override the name of the default
469 database isn't new but hasn't been documented before.
474 o New option `-r' to avoid emission of `.lf' lines.
476 o New option `-t' to emit TeX comment lines (giving current file and the
477 line number) instead of `.lf' lines.
482 o Unencoded glyphs in an AFM file are output also (since grops can now emit
483 multiple encoding vectors for a single font).
485 o New option `-m' to prevent negative left italic correction values.
487 o The mapping and encoding file together with file `DESC' are now searched
488 in the default font directory also. Please refer to the man page of
489 afmtodit for more details.
494 o Larry Kollar <kollar@alltel.net> and others made the man macros more
497 . New command line options -rFT, -rIN, and -rSN to set the vertical
498 location of the footer line, the body text indentation, and the
499 sub-subheading indentation.
501 . New command line option -rHY (similar to the ms macros) to control
504 . New macros `.PT' and `.BT' to print the header and footer strings.
505 They can be replaced with a customized version in `man.local'.
507 . The string `HF' now holds the typeface to print headings and
510 . Similar to the ms macros, the LT register now defaults to LL if not
511 explicitly specified on the command line.
513 o troff's start-up file `troffrc' now includes `papersize.tmac' to set
514 the paper size with the command line option `-dpaper=<size>'.
516 Possible values for `<size>' are the same as the predefined `papersize'
517 values in the DESC file (only lowercase; see the groff_font man page)
518 except a7-d7. An appended `l' (ell) character denotes landscape
519 orientation. Examples: `a4', `c3l', `letterl'.
521 Most output drivers need additional command line switches `-p' and
522 `-l' to override the default paper length and orientation as set in
523 the driver specific DESC file.
525 For example, use the following for PS output on A4 paper in landscape
528 groff -Tps -dpaper=a4l -P-pa4 -P-l -ms foo.ms > foo.ps
537 o The non-slanted PostScript font definition files have been regenerated to
538 include left and right italic correction values. Applying those to a
539 glyph (this is, prepending the glyph with `\,' and appending `\/' to the
540 glyph) sets the glyph width to the real value given by the horizontal
541 bounding box values. Without those escapes, the advance width for the
542 particular glyph is used (which can differ considerably).
544 Most users will neither need this feature nor notice a difference in
545 existing documents (provided \, and \/ is used as advertised, namely for
546 italic fonts only); its main goal is to improve image generation with
549 This is an experimental change, and feedback is welcome.
554 o Added global option `nospaces' to ignore leading and trailing spaces in
560 o The option -w (--linewidth) has been added (similar to other device
561 drivers) to set the default line width.
566 o Support for b-spline and Bezier curves has been added.
571 o New option `--shell' to select the shell under which groffer shall run.
576 o The string `Am' (producing an ampersand) has been added to mdoc for
577 compatibility with NetBSD.
579 o `.IX' is now deprecated for mom; you should use `.IQ' (Indent Quit)
582 o In mom, new inlines `FWD', `BCK', `UP', and `DOWN' deal with horizontal
583 and vertical movements; please refer to contrib/mom/NEWS for more
586 o New macro ENDNOTES_HDRFTR_CENTER for mom to better control headers.
591 o The `papersize' keyword in the DESC file now accepts multiple arguments.
592 It is scanned from left to the right, and the first valid argument is
593 used. This makes it possible to provide a fallback paper size.
597 papersize /etc/papersize a4
599 o A local font directory has been prepended to the default font path; it
600 defaults to /usr/local/share/groff/site-font. Similar to the normal
601 font searching process, files must be placed into a devXXX subdirectory,
604 /usr/local/share/groff/site-font/devps/FOO
606 for a PostScript font definition file FOO.
612 ***************************************************************************
614 * PLEASE READ THE CHANGES BELOW REGARDING GROTTY, GROFF'S TTY FRONTEND. *
616 ***************************************************************************
621 o Color support has been added to troff and pic (and to the device drivers
622 grops, grodvi, grotty, and grohtml -- other preprocessors and drivers will
623 follow). A new function `defcolor' defines colors; the escape sequence
624 `\m' sets the drawing color, the escape sequence `\M' specifies the
625 background color for closed objects created with \D'...' commands.
626 `\m[]' and `\M[]' switch back to the previous color. `\m' and `\M'
627 correspond to the new troff output command sets starting with `m' and
628 `DF'. The device-specific default color is called `default' and can't be
631 Use the `color' request to toggle the usage of colors (default is on); the
632 read-only register `.color' is 0 if colors are not active, and non-zero
635 The old `Df' output command is mapped onto `DFg'; all color output
636 commands don't change the current font position (consequently, `Df'
639 Outputting color can be disabled in troff and groff with the option -c
640 (it is always disabled in compatibility mode). See the section on grotty
641 for the GROFF_NO_SGR environment variable also.
643 For defining color components as fractions between 0 and 1, a new scaling
644 indicator `f' has been introduced: 1f = 65536u. For testing whether a
645 color is defined (with .if and .ie), a new conditional operator `m' is
648 More details can be found in the groff_diff.7 manual page and in
651 o Similar to \m and \M, \f[] switches back to the previous font. \fP
652 (and \f[P]) is still valid for backwards compatibility.
654 o The new escape \F is the same as `.fam'; \F[] switches back to previous
655 family -- \F[P] selects family `P'.
657 o Two new glyph symbols are available: `eu' is the official Euro symbol;
658 `Eu' is a font-specific glyph variant.
660 o The new glyph symbols `t+-', `tdi', and `tmu' are textual variants of
661 `+-', `di', and `mu', respectively.
663 o Latin-1 character 181 (PS name `mu', Unicode name U+00B5 MICRO SIGN) has
664 got the troff glyph name `mc'.
666 o -Tutf8 is now available on EBCDIC hosts.
668 o Strings can take arguments, using this syntax: \*[foo arg1 arg2 ...].
671 .ds xxx This is a \\$1 test.
674 o It is now possible to have whitespace between the first and second dot (or
675 the name of the ending macro) to end a macro definition. Example:
681 . nop Hello, I'm `foo'.
682 . nop I will now define `bar'.
684 . nop Hello, I'm `bar'.
688 o `.fn' is a new string-valued register which returns the (internal) real
689 font name; styles and families are properly concatenated.
691 o Three new read/write registers `seconds', `minutes', and `hours' contain
692 the current time, set at start-up of troff. Use the `af' request to
693 control their output format.
695 o The new request `fchar' can be used to provide fallback characters. It
696 has the same syntax as the `char' request; the only difference is that a
697 character defined with `.char' hides the glyph with the same name in the
698 current font, whereas a character defined with `.fchar' is checked only if
699 the particular glyph isn't found in the current font. This test happens
700 before checking special fonts.
702 o In analogy to the `tmc' request, `.writec' is the same as `.write' but
703 doesn't emit a final newline.
705 o The new request `itc' is a variant of `.it' for which a line interrupted
706 with \c counts as one input line.
708 o Two new requests `ds1' and `as1' which are similar to `ds' and `as' but
709 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of strings defined by
712 o The syntax of the `substring' request has been changed: The first
713 character in a string now has index 0, the last character has index -1.
714 Note that this is an incompatible change.
716 o To emit strings directly to the intermediate output, a new `output'
717 request has been added; it is similar to `\!' used at the top level.
719 o `.hpf' has been extended. It can now handle most TeX hyphenation
720 pattern files without modification. To do that, the commands \patterns,
721 \hyphenation, and \endinput are recognized. Please refer to groff_diff.7
722 for more information.
724 o `hpfcode' is a new request to provide an input encoding mapping for the
727 o The new request `hpfa' appends hyphenation patterns (`hpf' replaces
728 already existing patterns).
730 o A new request `ami' (append macro indirect) has been added. The first and
731 second parameter of `ami' are taken from string registers rather than
732 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
733 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
735 o The new request `sizes' is similar to the `sizes' command in DESC files.
736 It expects the same syntax; the data must be on a single line, and the
737 final `0' can be omitted.
739 o `trin' (translate input) is a new request which is similar to `tr' with
740 the exception that the `asciify' request will use the character code (if
741 any) before the character translation. Example:
753 The result is `x a'. Using `tr', the result would be `x x'.
755 o The request `pvs' isn't new, but hasn't been documented before. It
756 adds vertical space after a line has been output. This makes it an
757 alternative to the `ls' request to produce double-spaced documents.
758 The read-only register `.pvs' holds the current amount of the
759 post-vertical line space.
761 o For compatibility with plan 9's troff, multiple `pi' requests are
771 o A new escape sequence `\O' is available to disable and enable glyph
772 output. Please see groff_diff.7 and groff.texinfo for more details.
774 o The escapes `\%', `\&', `\)', and `\:' no longer cause an error in \X;
775 they are ignored now. Additionally `\ ' and `\~' are converted to
776 single space characters.
778 o The default tab distance in nroff mode is now 0.8i to be compatible
781 o Using the latin-1 input character 0xAD (soft hyphen) for the `shc'
782 request was a bad idea. Instead, it is now translated to `\%', and
783 the default hyphenation character is again \[hy]. Note that the glyph
784 \[shc] is not useful for typographic purposes; it only exists to have
785 glyph names for all latin-1 characters.
790 o Peter Schaffter <df191@ncf.ca> has contributed a new major macro package
791 called `mom', mainly for non-scientific writers, which takes care of
792 many typographic issues. It comes with a complete reference (in HTML
793 format) and some examples. `mom' has been designed to format documents
794 for PostScript output only.
796 o Two macros `AT' (AT&T) and `UC' (Univ. of California) have been added to
797 the man macros for compatibility with older BSD releases.
799 o Both the man and mdoc macro packages now use the LL and LT registers for
800 setting the line and title length, respectively (similar to those
801 registers in the ms macro package). If not set on the command line or
802 in a macro file loaded before the macro package itself, they default to
803 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
805 o The `-xwidth' specifier in the mdoc macro package has been removed. Its
806 functionality is now integrated directly into `-width'. Similarly,
807 `-column' has been extended to provide this functionality also.
809 o A new macro `Ex' has been added to the mdoc macro package to document an
812 o The PSPIC macro has been extended to work with DVI output (`pspic.tmac' is
813 now automatically loaded for -Tdvi), using a dvips special to load the EPS
816 o The trace.tmac package now traces calls to `am' also. Additionally, it
817 works in compatibility mode.
819 o `troff.1' has been split. Differences to UNIX troff are now documented
820 in the new man page `groff_diff.7'.
822 o `groff_mwww.7' has been renamed to `groff_www.7'. The file mwww.tmac
825 o `groff_ms.7' has been completely rewritten. It now contains a complete
826 reference to the ms macros.
828 o `groff_trace.7' documents the trace macro package.
830 o Changes in www.tmac:
832 Note that HTML support is still in alpha change, so it is rather likely
833 that both macro names and macro syntax will change. Some of the macros
834 mentioned below aren't really new but haven't been documented properly
837 The following macros have been renamed:
843 For consistency, the macros `URL', `FTL', and `MTO' now all have the
844 address as the first parameter followed by the description.
846 By default, grohtml generates links to all section headings at the top
847 of the document. Use the new `LK' macro to specify a different place.
849 For specifying the background color and a background image, use the
850 new macros `BCL' and `BGIMG', respectively.
852 The macro `NHR' has been added; it suppresses the generation of top and
853 bottom rules which grohtml emits by default.
855 The new macro `HX' determines the cut-off point for automatic link
856 generation to headings.
858 The image position parameter names in `IMG' have been changed to `-L',
861 New macro `PIMG' for inclusion of a PNG image (it will automatically
862 convert it into an EPS file if not -Thtml is used).
864 New macro `MPIMG' for putting a PNG image into the left or right margin
865 (it will automatically convert it into an EPS file if not
868 New macros `HnS', `HnE' to start and end a header line block.
870 New macro `DC' to produce dropcap characters.
872 New macro `HTL' to generate an HTML title line only but no H1 heading.
874 New macros `ULS' and `ULE' to start and end an unordered list. The new
875 macro `LI' inserts a list item.
880 o The new command line option `-c' disables color output (which is always
881 disabled in compatibility mode).
886 o Two new command line options `-c' and `-C'; the former passes `-c' to
887 grotty (switching to the old output scheme); the latter passes `-C' to
888 groff (enabling compatibility mode).
893 o New keywords `color' (or `colour', `colored', `coloured'), `outline' (or
894 `outlined'), and `shaded' are available. `outline' sets the color of the
895 outline, `shaded' the fill color, and `color' sets both. Example:
897 circle shaded "green" outline "black" ;
899 Filled arrows always use the outline color for filling.
901 Color support for TeX output is not implemented yet.
906 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
907 converts a PIC diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
908 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
913 o A new script contributed by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>. It
914 converts an EQN diagram into a cropped image. Since it uses gs and the PNM
915 library, virtually all graphics formats are available for output.
920 o A new script contributed by Bernd Warken <bwarken@mayn.de>. It displays
921 groff files and man pages on X and tty, taking care of most parameters
927 o Documents using the mom macro package are recognized.
932 o Color support has been added.
934 o A new option `-p' is available to select the output paper size. It has
935 the same syntax as the new `papersize' keyword in the DESC file.
940 o By default, font sizes are now available in the range 5-10000pt, similar
941 to PS fonts. If you want the old behaviour (i.e., font sizes at discrete
942 values only), insert the following at the start of your document:
945 . sizes 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1095 1200 1400 1440 1600 \
946 1728 1800 2000 2074 2200 2400 2488 2800 3600
948 o A new font file HBI (using cmssbxo10; this is slanted sans serif bold
949 extended) has been added.
951 o Two font families are now available: `T' and `H'.
953 o EC and TC fonts have been integrated. Use `-mec' (calling the file
954 ec.tmac) to switch to them. Those fonts give a much better coverage of
955 the symbols defined by groff than the CM fonts.
957 Note that ec.tmac must be called before any language-specific files; it
958 doesn't take care of hcode values.
960 o Color support has been added. For drawing commands, colors are translated
961 to gray values currently.
966 o Color support has been added, using the SGR (ISO 6429, sometimes called
967 ANSI color) escape sequences.
969 o SGR escape sequences are now used by default for underlining and bold
970 printing also, no longer using the backspace character trick. To revert
971 to the old behaviour, use the `-c' switch.
973 Note that you have to use the `-R' option of `less' to make SGR escapes
974 display correctly. On the other hand, terminal programs and consoles like
975 `xterm' which support SGR sequences natively can directly display the
976 output of grotty. Consequently, the options `-b', `-B', `-u', and `-U'
977 work only in combination with `-c' and are ignored silently otherwise.
979 For the `man' program, it may be necessary to add the `-R' option of
980 `less' to the $PAGER environment variable; alternatively, you can use
981 `man's `-P' option (or adapt its configuration file accordingly). See
982 man(1) for more details.
984 o If the environment variable GROFF_NO_SGR is set, SGR output is disabled,
985 reverting to the old behaviour.
987 o A new special \X'tty: sgr n' has been added; if n is non-zero or missing,
988 enable SGR output (the default).
990 o If the new option `-i' is used (only in SGR mode), grotty sends escape
991 sequences to set the italic font attribute instead of the underline
992 attribute for italic fonts. Note that many terminals don't have support
993 for this (including xterm).
998 o Color support for glyphs has been added.
1000 o New option `-h' to select the style of headings in HTML output.
1002 o New option `-b' to set the background colour to white.
1004 o New options `-a' and `-g' to control the number of bits for anti-aliasing
1005 used for text and graphics, respectively. Default value is 4; 0 means
1008 o groff character/glyph entities now map onto HTML 4 character entities.
1013 o Valid paper sizes are now specified as with the new `papersize' keyword
1014 in the DESC file. Specifically, the old custom paper type format
1015 `custAAAxBBB' is no longer supported.
1020 o A new manual page `ditroff.7' is available.
1022 o The groff texinfo manual will now be installed, together with a bunch
1025 o A new keyword `papersize' has been added to the DESC file format. Its
1028 . a predefined paper format (e.g. `A4' or `letter')
1030 . a file name pointing to a file which must contain a paper size
1031 specification in its first line (e.g. `/etc/papersize')
1033 . a custom paper size definition like `35c,4i'
1035 See groff_font(5) for more details. This keyword only affects the
1036 physical dimensions of the output medium; grops, grolj4, and grolbp use it
1037 currently. troff completely ignores it.
1042 This is major bug-fixing release which should replace 1.17.1.
1047 o The `IMAGE' macro in www.tmac has changed: Now the optional 2nd parameter
1048 gives the horizontal image location (left, centered, or right), and the
1049 optional 3rd and 4th parameter the image dimensions.
1054 This is mainly a bug-fixing release.
1059 o Two new requests `de1' and `am1' which are similar to `de' and `am' but
1060 with compatibility mode disabled during expansion of macros defined by
1063 o Added request `brp'. This is the same as `\p'.
1065 o Similar to other versions of troff, the `ns' request now works in all
1066 diversions, not only in the top-level one.
1068 o New read-only number register `.ns'. Returns 1 if in no-space mode,
1074 o Options -p (pic) and -t (tbl) added.
1076 o The environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is now checked before PATH for
1082 o New option `-D dir' to specify a directory in which all images are placed.
1084 o New option `-I stem' to specify an image name stame. If not given,
1085 `grohtml-XXX' is used (`XXX' is the process ID).
1093 o `-mFOO' now searches first for `FOO.tmac' and then for `tmac.FOO'. The
1094 old behaviour has been changed to overcome problems with platforms which
1095 have an 8+3 file name limit, and platforms which have other versions of
1096 troff installed also. Additionally, all macro files have been renamed
1097 using the latter scheme to avoid 8+3 name clashes.
1099 o The new environment variable GROFF_BIN_PATH is checked for programs groff
1100 is calling (preprocessors, troff, and output devices) before PATH. If not
1101 set, it defaults to the directory where the groff binary is located.
1102 Previously, it was PATH only. The nroff script only uses GROFF_BIN_PATH
1103 to find the groff binary but passes both the GROFF_BIN_PATH and PATH
1104 environment variables to groff.
1109 o The mdoc package has been completely rewritten, using the full power of
1110 GNU troff to remove limitations of Unix troff (which is no longer
1111 supported). Most important changes are:
1114 . Almost all macros are parsed and callable (if it makes sense)
1115 . `.Lb': prints library names
1116 . `.Nm <punctuation>' now works as expected; `.Nm "" <punctuation>' has
1118 . Updated `.St' command
1119 . `.Fx': prints FreeBSD
1120 . `.Ox': prints OpenBSD
1121 . `.Bsx': prints BSD/OS
1122 . `.Brq', `.Bro', `.Brc': brace enclosure macros
1123 . `.Bd -centered': center lines
1124 . `.Bl -xwidth <string>': interpret <string> and use the resulting width
1125 . Support for double-sided printing (-rD1 command line switch)
1126 . Support for 11pt and 12pt document sizes (-rS11, -rS12 command line
1129 `groff_mdoc.7' replaces `groff_mdoc.samples.7'; it now completely
1130 documents the mdoc package.
1132 Great care has been taken to assure backwards compatibility. If you
1133 encounter any abnormal results, please report them to bug-groff@gnu.org.
1135 o A new command line option for the `man' macros (similar to the `mdoc'
1136 package) has been implemented: `-rcR=1' (now the default in nroff mode)
1137 produces one single, very long page instead of multiple pages. `-rcR=0'
1140 o The `return' request has been added to return immediately from a macro.
1142 o A new request `nop' (no operation) has been added which is similar to
1143 `if 1'. For example,
1149 can now be written as
1155 o `box' and `boxa' are two new requests which behave similarly to `di' and
1156 `da' but don't include a partially filled line (which is restored after
1157 ending the diversion).
1159 o The `asciify' request has been extended to `unformat' space characters
1160 and some other escape sequences also.
1162 `\ ' is no longer unformatted as a space but remains an unpaddable,
1163 unbreakable space character.
1165 o The new `unformat' request is similar to `asciify' but only handles space
1166 characters and tabs specially if the diversion is reread, retaining font
1167 information. This makes it possible to reformat diversions; for example
1172 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07 a08 a09 a10.
1177 \f[B]b01 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08 b09 b10.\f[P]
1182 c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10.
1189 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1190 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1191 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1192 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1195 Without the `unformat' request, space characters are converted to word
1196 space nodes which are no longer stretchable, and the result would be
1198 a01 a02 a03 a04 a05 a06 a07
1199 a08 a09 a10. c01 c02 c03 c04
1200 c05 c06 c07 c08 c09 c10. b01
1201 b02 b03 b04 b05 b06 b07 b08
1204 o The new request `linetabs' controls the `line-tabs' mode. In line-tabs
1205 mode, tab distances are computed relative to the (current) output line.
1206 Otherwise they are taken relative to the input line. For example, the
1221 In line-tabs mode, the same code gives
1225 The new read-only number register `.linetabs' returns 1 if in line-tabs
1226 mode, and 0 otherwise.
1228 o Two new requests `tm1' and `tmc' have been added to improve writing
1229 messages to the terminal. `tm1' is similar to `tm' but allows leading
1230 whitespace. `tmc' is similar to `tm1' but doesn't emit a final newline.
1232 o For compatibility with sqtroff, the request `output' has been added.
1233 The behaviour is similar to `\!' at the top-level, that is, it directly
1234 inserts its argument into the intermediate output format. The syntax
1235 is similar to .tm1, allowing leading whitespace.
1237 o The new `spreadwarn' request will make troff warn if spaces in an output
1238 line are widened by a given limit or more.
1240 o Use `warnscale' to change the scaling indicator troff will use for
1243 o A new request `dei' (define indirect) has been added. The first and
1244 second parameter of `dei' are taken from string registers rather than
1245 directly; this very special request is needed to make `trace.tmac'
1246 independent from the escape character (which might even be disabled).
1248 o It is now possible to save and restore the escape character with two new
1249 requests `ecs' and `ecr'.
1251 o The new escape sequence \B'...' is an analogon to `\A': If the string
1252 within the delimiters is a valid numeric expression, return character `1',
1255 o The new escape sequence `\:' inserts a zero-width break point. This is
1256 similar to `\%' but without a soft hyphen character.
1258 o The `tr' request can now map characters onto `\~'.
1260 o Calling the `fam' request without an argument switches back to the
1261 previous font family.
1263 o The new read-only register `.int' is set to a positive value if the last
1264 output line is interrupted (i.e., if the input line contains `\c').
1266 o The `writem' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before. This
1267 is similar to `write' but instead of a string the contents of a given
1268 macro or string is written to a stream.
1270 o The read/write number register `hp' to get/set the current horizontal
1271 position relative to the input line isn't new but hasn't been documented
1274 o `\X' and `\Y' are now transparent for end-of-sentence recognition.
1276 o The `cu' request in nroff mode now works as documented (i.e., it
1277 underlines spaces also).
1282 o The grog script now works in non-compatibility mode also (which is the
1283 default). As usual, use the `-C' option to activate compatibility mode.
1288 o A new option `-P' resp. a new environment variable `GROPS_PROLOGUE' has
1289 been added to select a different prologue file.
1291 o The effect of the former `-mpsnew' option to access more Type 1 characters
1292 is now the default and no longer available. To get the old behaviour
1293 (i.e., emulation of some glyphs by composition) use `-mpsold'.
1298 o For security reasons the following changes have been done:
1300 . The tmac.safer file has been replaced with a built-in solution; .open,
1301 .opena, .pso, .sy, and .pi are completely disabled in safer mode (which
1302 is the default); to enable these requests the `-U' command line flag
1305 . Files specified with the .mso request or given with the `-m' command
1306 line option, and hyphenation patterns loaded with `.hpf' are no longer
1307 searched in the current directory by default (besides the usual tmac
1308 path). Instead, the home directory is used. To add the current
1309 directory, either use the `-U' or `-M' command line option or set the
1310 GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to an appropriate value.
1312 . troffrc, troffrc-end, and eqnrc are neither searched in the current nor
1313 in the home directory (even if -U is given). Use -M or GROFF_TMAC_PATH
1316 . Similarly, the current directory is no longer part of the font path.
1317 Use the `-F' command line option or the GROFF_FONT_PATH environment
1318 variable if you really need the current directory.
1320 o groff now installs its data files into /usr/local/share/groff/<version> by
1321 default, following the GNU standard. Additionally, a local tmac directory
1322 (by default /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac) is scanned before the
1323 standard tmac directory. Wrapper files for system-specific macro packages
1324 (if necessary) are put into /usr/local/lib/groff/site-tmac; this directory
1325 is searched before the local tmac directory.
1327 o All programs now have option `-v' to show the version number; they exit
1328 immediately afterwards, following the GNU standards. Additionally,
1329 `--version' and `--help' have been added, doing the obvious actions.
1334 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1342 The anachronism of calling the man macro package with `-man' has been fixed;
1343 now you can say `-m man' also. The same is true for `ms', `me', `markup',
1344 `mandoc', and `mdoc'.
1346 A new switch `-g' for calling `grn' is available.
1348 A new switch `-G' for calling `grap' is available.
1350 EBCDIC support for tty devices has been added. On such hosts, IBM code page
1351 1047 is available with -Tcp1047 instead of -Tascii and -Tlatin1 (and, for
1352 the moment, -Tutf8). Note that non-tty devices are not yet supported (but
1358 A new command line option to the `man' macros is available: `-rSxx' (with
1359 `xx' either 10, 11, or 12) to set the base document font size to `xx'
1360 points. Additionally, `.SH' now produces larger headings than `.SS'.
1362 To solve a problem with the .PSPIC macro which needs the `-U' switch of
1363 troff to access an external program (psbb), a new request .psbb is now
1364 available to get the bounding box of a PostScript image file. The values
1365 (in PostScript units) are returned in the new read-only number registers
1366 `llx', `lly', `urx', and `ury'. Consequently, .PSPIC has been adapted to
1367 use the new request, and the psbb program has been removed.
1369 A new predefined writable number register, `year', has been added. It
1370 contains the current year.
1372 A new read-only register, `.Y', has been added. It contains the revision
1373 number of the groff package.
1375 `\fP' now behaves as expected in situations like the following where the
1376 font `foo' is undefined:
1379 normal text \f[foo]bar\fP normal text
1381 Previously, the text after \fP appeared as bold.
1383 The `substring' request is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1385 The predefined `.T' string register (which holds the current output device)
1386 is not new, but hasn't been documented before.
1388 A new request `length' computes the length of a string and returns it in
1391 The macro files `tmac.a4' (for specifying A4 paper format) and `tmac.trace'
1392 (a debugging aid) are now installed also.
1394 A new resource file, `troffrc-end', is now available. It is invoked after
1395 all user-specified macros. Currently used by the html device to include
1396 tmac.html; thus no need for users to specify -mhtml anymore.
1398 The soft hyphen character now has a glyph name: `shc'.
1400 The latin-1 character 173 (PS name `periodcentered') has got the troff glyph
1401 name `pc' and is no longer intermixed with the symbol character `md' (PS
1404 ASCII character 34 (PS name `quotedbl') has got the troff glyph name `dq'
1405 (which is an alias to character `"').
1407 ASCII character 39 (PS name `quoteright') has got the troff glyph name `cq'
1408 (which is an alias to character "'").
1410 Some additions to the font description files have been implemented for
1411 better support of HTML output:
1413 The new format of lines in the `charset' subsection of font description
1416 name metrics type code [entity_name] [-- comment]
1418 Currently, only the font description files in devhtml use the optional
1419 entity_name string to define glyph entities in HTML. Everything after the
1420 entity_name field is ignored; in case this field isn't used, two hyphen
1421 characters are now necessary to start a comment.
1423 Two new requests are available in DESC files (currently used only with
1426 use_charnames_in_special
1427 This command indicates that troff should encode named characters
1428 inside special commands.
1431 requests that troff tells the driver the source file name being
1432 processed. This is achieved by another tcommand: `F filename'.
1437 Bruno Haible <haible@clisp.cons.org> contributed support for UTF8 output.
1442 Added .LINE macro to tmac.arkup.
1444 The obsolete `.LINK' macro has been removed.
1446 .URL, .FTP, and .MAILTO macros now accept an optional third argument which
1447 will be immediately appended to the second argument (to be used with
1448 punctuation, for example).
1453 The font size 11pt has been changed to 10.95pt (as used in LaTeX 2e).
1455 A new font file CWI (using cmitt10; this is typewriter italic) has been
1461 A new driver for Canon CAPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
1462 printers). This code has been contributed by Francisco Andres Verdu
1463 <pandres@dragonet.es>.
1468 A new preprocessor to process gremlin pictures. It is based on the
1469 original Berkeley implementation of grn, written by David Slattengren
1470 and Barry Roitblat, and has been adapted to groff by Daniel Senderowicz
1471 <daniel@synchrods.com> and Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>.
1476 Added the `srand' command to set the seed for a new sequence of
1477 pseudo-random numbers to be returned by `rand'.
1482 Simplified installation: The Imakefile will now be configured (by groff's
1488 Three new man pages are available: groff_tmac.5 (documenting how troff macros
1489 are accessed and where they are found), groff.7 (a short reference of the GNU
1490 roff language), and roff.7 (a general survey on GNU troff).
1495 A partial port to win32 (for use with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0) is now part
1496 of the distribution. It has been contributed by Blake McBride
1497 <blake@florida-software.com>.
1499 More information about programs, macros, documentation, etc., which is
1500 related to groff has been collected in the file `MORE.STUFF'.
1502 VERSION 1.13, 1.14, 1.15
1503 ========================
1505 Bug fixes only; no user-visible changes.
1510 Finally, there are new maintainers for groff. Mailing lists and a CVS
1511 repository are available also. See the file README for details. Not all
1512 reported bugs could be fixed, so please send mails again if something is
1515 Most of the installation problems should have vanished now (most
1516 notably the $(tmac_wrap) bug).
1518 There is now a man page called groff_man.7 which documents the basics of the
1519 -man macros. It has been originally written by Susan G. Kleinmann
1522 A (still incomplete) groff reference manual in texinfo format originally
1523 contributed by Trent A. Fisher <trent@gnurd.portland.or.us>.
1525 me.man and msafer.man have been renamed to groff_me.man
1526 resp. groff_msafer.man for consistency.
1528 Default strings for macros in doc-common resp. tmac.an no longer contain the
1531 groff should now be Y2k safe (fixes contributed by Paul Eggert
1532 <eggert@twinsun.com>).
1534 Following the GNU standards, groff will now use the prefix `/usr/local/' as
1535 the default instead of replacing an existent groff binary.
1537 groff, troff, nroff, and pic now support the -U flag to activate unsafe
1538 behaviour (without -msafer); the -S flag for using the -msafer macros is now
1544 This is a new output device for producing HTML output contributed by Gaius
1545 Mulley <gaius@glam.ac.uk>. It is still very alpha but has been included
1546 into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance to test it. Bug
1547 reports are highly welcome.
1552 Duplex printing support has been contributed by Jeffrey Copeland
1558 Added -I option for defining include paths (patch contributed by Peter
1559 Miller <peterm@jna.com.au>).
1564 Fallback resources added (patch contributed by Larry Jones
1565 <larry.jones@sdrc.com>).
1567 Will now support 8 gray levels.
1572 New version 1.32 (contributed by Joergen Haegg <jh@axis.com>).
1577 Complete documentation for pic is now in the file doc/pic.ms. It was
1578 contributed by Eric S. Raymond, <esr@thyrsus.com>, who is emphatically
1579 *not* volunteering to take over groff as he is way overworked with
1580 half a dozen other projects.
1585 The directory where data files are installed has been changed from
1586 /usr/local/lib/groff to /usr/local/share/groff to comply with the
1587 latest GNU coding standards.
1589 By default groff programs with Unix equivalents are installed with a
1590 "g" prefix unless there is an existing (non-groff) troff installation.
1592 A new approach is used to make system macro packages available to
1593 groff. Instead of simply including /usr/lib/tmac in the list of
1594 directories searched by groff, the installation process creates for
1595 each system macro package a wrapper macro package in the groff macro
1596 directory that references the system macro package. The groff macro
1597 packages are now installed with a leading "g" prefix if there is a
1598 system version of the same macro package, and otherwise without the
1599 "g" prefix, with the exception that the groff version of -me which is
1600 always installed as -me.
1602 There is a new device, lj4, for the HP LaserJet 4 (and PCL5
1608 groff has a -S option that prevents the use of unsafe features in pic
1609 and troff. This uses a new -S option of pic and the -msafer macros
1615 The `blm' request specifies a macro to be invoked when a blank line is
1621 A -S (safer) option disables the sh command.
1626 The -m option enables manual feed.
1631 \(rn will now produce a character that has the traditional metrics,
1632 and will form corners with \(ul and \(br. This means that it will not
1633 align properly with \(sr. Instead there's a new character
1634 \[radicalex] which aligns with \(sr; this is used by eqn for doing
1640 The `pso' request allows you to read from the standard output of a
1646 The PSPIC macro has options to allow the horizontal alignment of the
1647 graphic to be specified.
1655 The escape sequence \V[xxx] will interpolate the value of the
1656 environment variable xxx.
1661 The decimalpoint option can be used to specify the character to be
1662 recognized as the decimal point character in place of the default
1671 The environment variable GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX can be used to control
1672 whether groff looks for `gtroff' or `troff' (similarily for the
1678 Multilingual hyphenation is supported by new `hpf' and `hla' requests,
1679 and by a `\n[.hla]' number register. The -H option has been removed.
1680 Files of hyphenation patterns can have comments.
1682 When a font cannot be found, troff gives a warning (of type `font',
1683 enabled by default) instead of an error.
1685 There's a new request `trnt' that's like `tr' except that it doesn't
1686 apply to text transparently throughput into a diversion with \!.
1691 There is a `nokeep' option which tells tbl not to use diversions to
1692 try to keep the table on one page.
1697 Setting the parameter `nroff' to a non-zero value causes `ndefine' to
1698 behave like `define' and `tdefine' to be ignored. This is done by
1699 eqnrc when the current device is ascii or latin1. There's a `neqn'
1700 script that just does `eqn -Tascii'.
1705 grotty uses whatever page length was specified using the `pl' request
1706 rather than using the paperlength command in the DESC file. The
1707 paperwidth command in the DESC file is also ignored.
1712 The programs in groff that have Unix counterparts can now be installed
1713 without a leading `g' prefix. See the `g' variable in the Makefile.
1715 The g?nroff script simulates the nroff command using groff.
1717 New special characters \(+h, \(+f, \(+p, \(Fn, \(Bq, \(bq, \(aq, \(lz,
1718 \(an. See groff_char(7).
1720 ^L is now a legal input character.
1725 The Xps pseudo-device has disappeared. Instead there is a new -X
1726 option that tells groff to use gxditview instead of the usual
1727 postprocessor. (So instead of -TXps, use -XTps or just -X if your
1728 default device is ps.)
1730 The postprocessor to be used for a particular device is now specified
1731 by a `postpro' command in the DESC file rather than being compiled
1732 into groff. Similarly the command to be used for printing (with the
1733 -l option) is now specified by a `print' command in the DESC file.
1735 The groff command no longer specifies eqnchar as an input file for
1736 eqn. Instead eqn automatically loads a file `eqnrc'. The groff
1737 command no longer passes the -D option to eqn. Instead eqnrc sets the
1738 draw_lines parameter.
1740 The groff command no longer tells troff to load a device-specific
1741 macro file. This is handled instead by the `troffrc' file, which is
1742 always loaded by troff.
1744 The shell script version of groff has been removed.
1749 The `rchar' request removes a character definition established with `char'.
1751 Compatibility mode is disabled and the escape character is set to `\'
1752 while a character definition is being processed.
1754 The `\#' escape sequence is like `\"' except that the terminating
1757 The `shc' request tells troff which character to insert (instead of
1758 the default \(hy) when a word is hyphenated at a line break.
1760 A font name of 0 (zero) in the DESC file will cause no font to be
1761 mounted on the corresponding font position. This is useful for
1762 arranging that special fonts are mounted on positions on which users
1763 are not likely explicitly to mount fonts. All groff devices now avoid
1764 initially mounting fonts on positions 5-9.
1766 The `do' request allows a single request or macro to be interpreted
1767 with compatibility mode disabled.
1769 troff automatically loads a file `troffrc' before any other input file.
1770 This can be prevented with the -R option. This file is responsible
1771 for loading the device-specific macros.
1776 The -x option has been removed and a -n option has been added. By
1777 default, pic now assumes that the postprocessor supports groff
1778 extensions. The -n option tells pic to generate output that works
1779 with ditroff drivers. The -z option now applies only to TeX mode.
1781 The -p option has been removed. Instead if the -n option is not
1782 specified, pic generates output that uses \X'ps: ...' if the \n(0p
1783 register is non-zero and tmac.ps sets this register to 1.
1785 In places where you could 1st or 5th you can now say `i'th or `i+1'th
1786 (the quotes are required).
1791 Eqn now automatically reads a file `eqnrc' from the macro directory.
1792 This performs the same role that the eqnchar files used to. This can
1793 be prevented by the -R option.
1795 Setting the draw_lines parameter to a non-zero value causes lines to
1796 be drawn using \D rather than \l. The -D option is now obsolete.
1798 `uparrow', `downarrow' and `updownarrow' can be used with `left' and
1801 The amount of extra space added before and after lines containing
1802 equations can be controlled using the `body_height' and `body_depth'
1808 Font description files have been regenerated from newer AFM files.
1809 You can get access to the additional characters present in the text
1810 fonts in newer PostScript printers by using -mpsnew.
1812 The default value of the -b option is specified by a `broken' command
1815 With the -g option, grops will generate PostScript code that guesses
1816 the page height. This allows documents to be printed on both letter
1817 (8.5x11) and A4 paper without change.
1822 ISO Latin-1 characters are available with -Tdvi. Format groff_char(7)
1823 with groff -Tdvi for more information.
1828 The -mtty-char macros contain additional character definitions for
1834 In previous releases the groff -me macros treated the $r and $R number
1835 registers in a way that was incompatible with the BSD -me macros. The
1836 reason for this was that the approach used by the BSD -me macros does
1837 not work with low resolution devices such as -TX75 and -TX100.
1838 However, this caused problems with existing -me documents. In this
1839 release, the vertical spacing is controlled by the $v and $V registers
1840 which have the same meaning as $r and $R in earlier groff releases.
1841 In addition, if the $r or $R register is set to a value that would be
1842 correct for for the BSD -me macros and a low resolution device is not
1843 being used, then an appropriate value for the $v or $V register will
1844 be derived from the $r or $R register.
1846 The groff -me macros work with -C and (I think) with Unix troff.
1848 For backward compatibility with BSD -me, the \*{ and \*} strings are
1849 also available as \*[ and \*]. Of course, \*[ will only be usable
1852 The \*T string has been deleted. Use \*(Tm instead.
1857 The `n', Space and Return keys are bound to the Next Page action. The
1858 `p', BackSpace and Delete keys are bound to the Previous Page action.
1859 The `q' key is bound to the Quit action.
1861 The `r' key is bound to a rerasterize action that reruns groff, and
1862 redisplays the current page.
1870 There is a alternative assignment operator `:=' which interacts
1871 differently with blocks.
1873 There is a new command `command', which allows the values of variables
1874 to be passed through to troff or TeX.
1876 The `print' command now accepts multiple arguments.
1878 String comparison expressions (using `==' or `!=') are allowed in more
1884 Horizontal and vertical lines drawn with \D'l ...' will be rendered
1885 using -, | and + characters. This is intended to give reasonable
1886 results with boxed tables. It won't work well with pic.
1891 The -mdoc macros have been upgraded to the version in the second
1892 Berkeley networking release. This version is not completely
1893 compatible with earlier versions; the old version is still available
1894 as -mdoc.old. The grog script has been enhanced so that it can
1895 usually determine whether a document requires the old or new versions.
1897 With -TX75, -TX100 and -TXps, the PSPIC macro will produce a box
1898 around where the picture would appear with -Tps.
1903 An implementation of the -mm macros is included.
1905 The directory in which temporary files are created can be controlled
1906 by setting the GROFF_TMPDIR or TMPDIR environment variables.
1911 Some MS-DOS support (see pic/make-dos-dist).
1916 There are two new \X commands (\X'ps: invis' and \X'ps: endinvis')
1917 which make it possible to have substitute characters that are
1918 displayed when previewing with -TXps but ignored when printing with
1924 Support for scalable fonts.
1929 No changes other than bug fixes.
1934 There is an implementation of refer and associated programs. groff -R
1935 preprocesses with grefer; no mechanism is provided for passing
1936 arguments to grefer because most grefer options have equivalent
1937 commands which can be included in the file. grog also supports refer.
1939 There is an alternative perl implementation of the grog script.
1941 The code field in lines in the charset section of font description
1942 files is now allowed to contain an arbitrary integer (previously it
1943 was required to lie between 0 and 255). Currently grops and grodvi
1944 use only the low order 8 bits of the value. Grodvi will use the
1945 complete value; however, this is unlikely to be useful with
1946 traditional TeX tools (.tfm files only allow 8 bit character codes.)
1948 Left and right double quotes can be obtained with \(lq and \(rq
1951 There is a new program called pfbtops which translates PostScript
1952 fonts in pfb format to ASCII.
1954 A slightly modified version of the Berkeley tmac.doc is included.
1959 In long escape names the closing ] is now required to be at the same
1960 input level as the opening [.
1962 The \A'S' escape sequence returns 1 or 0 according as S is or is not
1963 suitable for use as a name.
1965 \~ produces an unbreakable space that can be stretched when the line
1968 The `mso' request is like the `so' request except that it searches for
1969 the file in the same directories in which tmac.X is searched for when
1970 the -mX option is given.
1972 The escape sequence `\R' is similar to the `nr' request.
1977 A new `special' primitive allows you to add new types of unary
1978 constructs by writing a troff macro.
1983 The implementation no longer uses gperf.
1988 The compile-time -DBROKEN_SPOOLER option has been replaced by a
1989 BROKEN_SPOOLER_FLAGS option. This allows more precise control over
1990 how grops should workaround broken spoolers and previewers. There is
1991 a new -b option that can change this at run-time.
1993 Grops now generates PostScript that complies with version 3.0 of the
1994 Document Structuring Convention.
1996 The resource management component of grops (the part that deals with
1997 imported documents and downloadable fonts) has been rewritten and now
1998 supports version 3.0 of the Document Structuring Conventions. The
1999 %%DocumentFonts comment is no longer supported; you must use the
2000 %%Document{Needed,Supplied}{Fonts,Resources} comments instead
2003 tmac.psatk contains some macros that support the mechanism used by the
2004 Andrew Toolkit for including PostScript graphics in troff documents.
2009 Parts of xditview have been rewritten so that it can be used with the
2010 output of gtroff -Tps. groff -TXps will run gtroff -Tps with
2013 There is a new menu entry `Print' which brings up a dialog box for
2014 specifying a command with which the file being previewed should be
2017 Xditview now uses imake.
2022 The groff command now understands the gtroff `-a' and `-i' options.
2024 With the `m' and `n' scale indicators, the scale factor is rounded
2025 horizontally before being applied. This makes (almost) no difference
2026 for devices with `hor' equal to 1, but it makes groff with -Tascii or
2027 -Tlatin1 behave more like nroff in its treatment of these scale
2028 indicators. Accordingly tmac.tty now calls the `nroff' request so
2029 that the `n' condition will be true.
2031 The device-specific macros (tmac.ps, tmac.dvi, tmac.tty and tmac.X)
2032 have been made to work at least somewhat with -C. In particular the
2033 special characters defined by these macros now work with -C.
2035 groff -Tdvi -p will now pass pic the -x flag; this will enable filling
2036 of arrowheads and boxes, provided that your dvi driver supports the
2037 latest version of the tpic specials.
2042 There is a new `-N' option that tells eqn not to allow newlines in
2043 delimiters. This allows eqn to recover better from missing closing
2044 delimiters. The groff command will pass on a `-N' option to eqn.
2049 You can now use psfig with grops. See the file ps/psfig.diff. I do
2050 not recommend using psfig for new documents.
2052 The command \X'ps: file F' is similar to \X'ps: exec ...' except that
2053 the PostScript code is read from the file F instead of being contained
2054 within the \X command. This was added to support psfig.
2059 There are font files HB and HI corresponding to cmsssbx10 and cmssi10.
2064 The groff -me macros now work with the -C option. As a result, they
2065 may also work with Unix nroff/troff.
2067 In -me, the $r and $R number registers now contain the line spacing as
2068 a percentage of the pointsize expressed in units (normally about 120).
2069 The previous definition was useless with low resolution devices such
2075 A -ms-like macro-package is now included.
2077 The name for the Icelandic lowercase eth character has been changed
2083 There is a new request `nroff', which makes the `n' built-in condition
2084 true and the `t' built-in condition false; also a new request `troff'
2085 which undoes the effect of the `nroff' request. This is intended only
2086 for backward compatibility: it is usually better to test \n(.H or
2087 \n(.V or to use the `c' built-in condition.
2089 The \R escape sequence has been deleted. Use \E instead.
2091 There are `break' and `continue' requests for use with the `while'
2094 There is a request `hym' that can ensure that when the current
2095 adjustment mode is not `b' a line will not be hyphenated if it is no
2096 more than a given amount short, and a request `hys' that can ensure
2097 that when the current adjustment mode is `b' a line will not be
2098 hyphenated if it can be justified by adding no more than a given
2099 amount of extra space to each word space.
2101 There is a request `rj' similar to `ce' that right justifies lines.
2103 A warning of type `space' will be given when a call is made to an
2104 undefined request or macro with a name longer than two characters, and
2105 the first two characters of the name make a name that is defined.
2106 This is intended to find places where a space has been omitted been a
2107 request or macro and its argument. This type of warning is enabled by
2113 A comma is permitted between the arguments to the `reset' command.
2115 For use with TeX, there is a new `-c' option that makes gpic treat
2116 lines beginning with `.' in a way that is more compatible with tpic
2122 It is no longer necessary to add `space 0' at the beginning of
2123 complicated equations inside pictures.
2125 `prime' is now treated as an ordinary character, as in Unix eqn. The
2126 previous behaviour of `prime' as an operator can now be obtained using
2132 There are two new devices X75-12 and X100-12 which are the same as X75
2133 and X100 except that they are optimized for documents that use mostly
2139 The installation process has been refined to make it easy for you to
2140 share groff with someone who has the same type of machine as you but
2141 does not have a C++ compiler. See the end of the INSTALL file for
2144 There is a man page for the tfmtodit program which explains how to use
2145 your own fonts with groff -Tdvi.
2147 There is a man page for afmtodit which explains how to use your own
2148 PostScript fonts with groff -Tps.
2150 The \N escape sequence is now fully supported. It can now be used to
2151 access any character in a font by its output code, even if it doesn't
2152 have a groff name. This is made possible by a convention in the font
2153 files that a character name of `---' refers to an unnamed character.
2154 The drivers now all support the `N' command required for this. The font
2155 description files have been updated to include unnamed characters.
2157 The `x' command in font description files has been removed: instead
2158 any unknown commands are automatically made available to the drivers.
2159 If you constructed your own font files with an earlier version of
2160 tfmtodit or afmtodit, you must construct them again using the current
2163 Characters between 0200 and 0237 octal are no longer legal input
2164 characters. Note that these are not used in ISO 8859.
2166 A command called `grog' has been added, similar to the `doctype'
2167 command described in Kernighan and Pike.
2172 The groff command has some new options: -V prints the pipeline
2173 instead of executing it; -P passes an argument to the postprocessor,
2174 -L passes an argument to the spooler.
2176 There is a C++ implementation of the groff command. This handles some
2177 things slightly better than the shell script. In particular, it can
2178 correctly handle arguments containing characters that have a special
2179 meaning to the shell; it can give an error message when child
2180 processes other than the last in the pipeline terminate abnormally;
2181 its exit status can take account of the exit statuses of all its child
2182 processes; it is a little more efficient; when geqn is used, it
2183 searches for the eqnchar file in the same way that font metric files
2184 are searched for, rather than expecting to find it in one particular
2190 There is font translation feature: For example, you can tell gtroff to
2191 use font `HR' whenever font `H' is requested with the line
2193 This would be useful for a document that uses `H' to refer to
2196 There are some new number registers: `.kern' contains the current kern
2197 mode, `.lg' the current ligature mode, `.x' the major version number,
2198 `.y' the minor version number, `.ce' the number of lines to be
2199 centered in the current environment, `.trunc' the amount of vertical
2200 space truncated by the most recently sprung vertical position trap,
2201 `.ne' the amount of vertical space needed in the last `ne' request
2202 that caused a vertical position trap to be sprung.
2204 The `cf' request now behaves sensibly in a diversion. If used in a
2205 diversion, it will now arrange for the file to be copied to the output
2206 when the diversion is reread.
2208 There is a new request `trf' (transparent file) similar to `cf', but
2211 There is a new escape sequence `\Y[xxx]', roughly equivalent to
2212 `\X'\*[xxx]'', except that the contents of string or macro xxx are not
2213 interpreted, and xxx may contain newlines. This requires an output
2214 format extension; the drivers have been modified to understand this.
2215 Grops has also been modified to cope with newlines in the arguments to
2216 \X commands; grops has a new \X command mdef, which is like def except
2217 that it has a first argument giving the number of definitions.
2219 There is a new warning category `escape' which warns about unknown
2222 The `fp' request now takes an optional third argument giving the external
2225 The `\_' character is now automatically translated to `\(ul' as in troff.
2227 The environment variable `GROFF_HYPHEN' gives the name of the file
2228 containing the hyphenation patterns.
2230 There is a `\C'xxx'' escape sequence equivalent to `\[xxx]'.
2232 Characters ", ', ), ], *, \(dg are now initially transparent for the purposes
2233 of end of sentence recognition.
2235 There is an anti-recursion feature in the `char' request, so you can
2236 say `.char \(bu \s+2\(bu\s-2'.
2238 The limit on the number of font positions has been removed.
2239 Accordingly `\n[.fp]' never returns 0.
2241 The restriction on the number of numbered environments has been removed.
2243 There is a new escape sequence `\E' that makes it possible to
2244 guarantee that an escape sequence won't get interpreted in copy-mode.
2245 The `\R' escape sequence is accordingly now deprecated.
2250 Arguments of the form `X anything X' (in the `copy thru', `sh', `for',
2251 `if' and `define' constructs) can now be of the form `{ anything }'.
2253 If the `linethick' variable is negative (as it now is initially),
2254 lines will be drawn with a thickness proportional to the current point
2257 The `rand' function now takes no arguments and returns a number between
2258 0 and 1. The old syntax is still supported.
2260 `^' can be used in expressions to indicate exponentiation.
2262 In the `for' construct the argument to the by clause can be prefixed
2263 by `*' to indicate that the increment is multiplicative.
2265 A bare expression may be used as an attribute. If the current
2266 direction is `dir', then an attribute `expr' is equivalent to
2269 There is a `sprintf' construct that allows numbers to be formatted and used
2270 wherever a quoted string can be used.
2272 The height of a text object without an explicit height attribute is
2273 the number of text strings associated with the object times the value
2274 of the `textht' variable.
2276 The maximum height and width of a picture is controlled by the
2277 `maxpswid' and `maxpsht' variables.
2282 Gtbl can now handle gracefully the situation where the `ce' request
2283 has been applied to a table.
2288 The `ifdef' primitive has been generalized.
2290 A tilde accent can be put underneath a box using `utilde'. This
2291 defined using a general `uaccent' primitive.
2296 There is a new PostScript font downloading scheme which handles font
2297 downloading for imported illustrations. Previously, the name of the
2298 file containing the font was given in the `x download' line in the
2299 groff font metric file. Now, there is a `download' file which says
2300 for each PostScript font name which file contains that font. Grops
2301 can also now handle inter-font dependencies, where one downloadable
2302 font depends on some other (possibly downloadable) font.
2304 The `T' font has been removed. The characters it used to provide are
2305 now provided by `char' definitions in tmac.ps. TSymbol.ps has also
2306 been removed, and the tweaks it provided are now provided by `char'
projects / FreeBSD / releng / 10.0.git / blob